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Originally Posted by maximusslade
I just want to say that, just because a guy was a New Jersey crew member doesn't mean he knows squat about gunnery. It would my being on my submarine and telling the FTs up forward that torpedos must suck cause they missed a target.
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not the case with the guy I'm talking about. From his introduction
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My name is Fred Ralston. I served aboard the New Jersey from 1981-1984. As a FTG, performed most of the 16" firing from forward plots' stable vertical. This included all test firing as well as live fire NGFS (Beirut). .
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But I would like to site a different example. In the case of the Bismarck, if one were to look at her wreck they will find something I find to make for the big BB guns. If you look at photos of the wreck you will find that most of the holes you see in her deck are in very close proximity (or right smack on) critical points on the deck, these points being barbettes, and gunnery control stations (you wont see hits on the turrets themselves due to the fact that they had fallen out of the ship when she rolled over and sank, they are now deeply implanted in the mud). Granted that the British were not firing at maximum range, but if you look the footage of the day of the sinking you will find that the seas weren't exactly calm.
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Went far to the right on this one. As Fritz said its not all BB guns that are being called inaccurate. Just those on the Iowa class ships.
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In closing, I am no expert, but in regards to the Jersey in the 80's, wasn't the navy having a problem with shoddy powder being used. Again I am no expert, but just perhaps sub par powder would lead to rounds being off the mark? As my chief always said,"Sh*t in, sh*t out."
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They had a lot of different problems with the guns. And bad powder did have something to do with her bad shooting. But, even after the powders were reblended she and her sister ships continued to have accuracy problems. Some could have been caused by mechanical problems and some of the problems had to do with training.